robo universe sponsors
Posted inMisc

RoboUniverse New York 2015 – Initial Reaction

Hi all I attended the last day (5/13/2015) of the RoboUniverse conference and exhibit in New York City. It was a good experience and I got to hear some interesting talks. I am usually deeply involved in the technical aspects of robotics, so it was interesting hearing about some of the other aspects. This was the initial premiere of the…
implementation robotic systems
Posted inMisc

Book Review: Implementation of Robot Systems by Mike Wilson

Hi all Today I am reviewing Implementation of Robot Systems by Mike Wilson. This is a book about how to integrate robots into the manufacturing process. In this book Mike Wilson takes you through the process of deploying and developing your robotic systems since "All successful projects require a methodical approach to project planning." By following his lessons from over…
Fix Bad Code
Posted inSoftware & Algorithms

Software Development Principles

Hi all I have often thought about what the proper software methodology should be for the various robots that I build. My thoughts have evolved over time as I have seen these tool work. I do not have any formal software engineering training, however these are things that I have seen, heard, read, etc.. that I believe in (at 2am…
Robo Universe
Posted inMisc

RoboUniverse New York – May 11-13, 2015

Hi all Click here to see initial reactions after the event! RoboUniverse 2015 is happening May 11-13 in New York. I plan on being there and would love to meet up with others who are there. Please let me know if you plan on attending. I am waiting to see the full exhibitor list as it continues to grow. So…
grease gun
Posted inMechanical

Lubrication: Dry vs Wet – Oil vs Grease

One thing that is often looked is lubrication (lube). Changing your lubrication and selecting the proper type can dramatically modify the performance of your system. This change of lubrication was one of the primary reasons MSL was delayed from launching to Mars. Improper lubrication can cause your mechanical parts to wear out and fail. It can also lead to annoying…
TOUGHBOOK
Posted inComputing & Networking

TOUGHBOOK: The Super Rugged Laptop Teardown

Hi all Today I have a Panasonic Toughbook CF-18 that I will have the opportunity to tear down and see just what makes these computers so rugged. Please keep reading for the details of scan through for some nice pictures (you can click an image for the larger version). The computer weighs 4lb 10.8 oz and feels as solid as…
camera specs
Posted inSystems & Sensors

Camera & Lens Selection

Choosing a camera for your robot or machine vision system can be confusing. It is important to determine your requirements and then figure out how to achieve that between the camera and the optics. The first thing that most people talk about is resolution. The classic resolution of a camera is based on pixels; such as 600 pixels x 400…
highway transportation
Posted inMisc

Transporting your Robot

Throughout my career I have had to ship different robots to different locations around the world. Here is a little bit about what I have learnt about transportation. The 3 basic ways for a robot to travel are by land, by air, and by sea. Typically by truck (I guess there are also trains, but I have never used one,…
hall detection
Posted inElectrical & Electronics

Controlling Brushless DC motor with no Encoders

This is just a quick post on controlling DC brushless motors with no encoders. This post applies to brushless motors that typically use hall sensors for commutation. This post does not apply to the hall-less ESC (electronic speed control) motors that typically run at very high speeds and are used for things such as quadcopters and boats. To go back…
quadrature encoder
Posted inElectrical & Electronics Mechanical Systems & Sensors

Incremental Encoder Selection

Hi all Just a quick post on incremental encoders. Incremental encoders are good for speed control and can be used for position control when we have a homing routine to get absolute position, or the system is constrained to less than one rotation. One way an incremental encoder can also be an absolute encoder is if it is single turn.…
battery
Posted inElectrical & Electronics

Batteries

Hi all Today I want to talk about batteries. However before I begin there are a few terms I want to clarify. So here we go. Terminology Cell – This is where the chemical reaction takes place which produces electricity. The characteristics of the cell are determined by its chemical formulation and its construction. Battery – A battery is comprised…
motion planning example
Posted inSoftware & Algorithms

Robot Path (Motion) Planning Overview

This post is going to be a summary of the different path planning (ie. route finding) algorithms that are commonly used. I am not going to detail any of the particular algorithms, but rather give you a launchpad for finding a suitable algorithm for your application. You should remember that often you will mix and match different ideas as you…
power beer analogy
Posted inElectrical & Electronics

Motors: Active, Reactive, and Apparent Power

There are a bunch of confusing powers involved when we look at motors, especially with DC brushless motors. When your boss comes and asks you to measure the electrical power that your motor is using, it is often not straight forward. Typically the easiest way to get the current used by a motor is to measure the current draw going…
Ground Loop
Posted inElectrical & Electronics

Grounding & Avoiding Ground Loops

Ground loops are often discussed but less often understood (I am far from being an expert in this). I have seen several cases where a robot malfunctioned or a sensor did not work due to bad grounding. For example if you have a 0-5V signal and also have a "noisy" ground then the signal can be 0V± some-noise-value, and 5V±…
Copley controller
Posted inElectrical & Electronics

Copley Motor Controller Review

Update: Click here to learn how to configure Copley motor drivers Hi allThis is a post about the Copley Controls motor controllers. For this review I will be using a ACJ-055-09 (55Vmax and 9Apeak) motor controller (I love when product names mean something useful) with a 3 phase DC brushless motor. This is a good controller for distributed motion control.Copley…
rim pull
Posted inMisc Testing

Drawbar Pull vs Rim Pull

Hi all Many people get confused between what drawbar pull is and what rim pull is. Many people also use the terms interchangeably. Drawbar Pull - Pull available from the vehicle (think pulling from a hitch in the rear of the robot) Rim Pull - Pull available at the rim of each driving wheel (some people say it is from…
For Profit
Posted inMisc

For Profit Technical Education Experience (ITT-Tech)

There has been a lot of talk recently about for-profit education. Most of it is negative and a lot of it is true, however there are also some good things about for profit education that is often overlooked. This post is about the good, the bad, and the ugly that I have experienced at a technical for-profit school. Before going…
LRV Wheel
Posted inMechanical

Wheel & Grouser Design

For many robots the wheels are an afterthought however they are essential for letting the robot drive around. Another thing that is often neglected is choosing the proper grousers for your wheel. Most of the design parameters for wheels and grousers are based on experience, intuition (which may or may not be correct) and qualitative assessments. Serious wheel design is…
PID equations
Posted inSoftware & Algorithms Systems & Sensors

PID Control (with code), Verification, and Scheduling

Hi allPID controllers are the workhorse of the controls world. PID controllers have the goal of taking some error in your system and reducing it to 0. While there are many other control strategies out there PID is probably the most common (unless you count human control) outside of just setting a setpoint. There are many advanced control strategies out…
soldering
Posted inElectrical & Electronics Misc

Soldering Tutorials

Hi all Here are a few soldering tutorials that might be of interest to you. These first two are your day-to-day standard soldering methods. There are many of these types of videos online. This next set of tutorials is for high reliability "proper" soldering techniques. This is actually why I am writing this post. These are used in the aerospace…
mars rovers
Posted inRobots

Mars Rovers

Hi all It is surprisingly hard to find a list of the technology used in the mars rovers. Here is a quick post summarizing some of the technology used in the NASA JPL Mars rovers. The list is only partialy complete since I do not have all of the information. Please leave comments below to help me complete this table…
Weather Station
Posted inSystems & Sensors

Environmental Sensing and Monitoring

Hi all There are many different types of sensors that can be used for monitoring environmental data. In this post I will focus on natural environmental sensors. By natural I mean I mostly naturally occurring phenomena such as sunlight and temperature. I will mostly ignore things like chemical detection and radiation (the bad kind) detection. I am going to start…
computer repair
Posted inComputing & Networking Testing

Computer Field Recovery Kit

Hi all So I got a question about what I bring to the field with me when I am taking a robot out for testing. The simple answer is everything that I might need. Here is a list of the basics that a carry with me. I have a box labeled Computer Recovery Kit that I always keep complete and…
leica total station
Posted inMisc Testing

Position Tracking: Total Station

Tracking the position of a robot is difficult to do accurately, especially when you need to track position in a variety of locations. GPS is not accurate for small movements and can have jumps as the position estimate changes. One good solution is the Leica Total Station. The Total Station can measure a robots position with an accuracy of under…
disaster robotics
Posted inMisc

Book Review: Disaster Robotics by Robin Murphy

One of my personal interests is in disaster robotics. I like them for two reasons. The first is that I like the idea of being able to try and save people (I know I could have become a doctor). The other reason I like robots is that they need to operate in "extreme terrain and operating conditions" and be very…
LIDAR's Used
Posted inSystems & Sensors

LIDAR (Laser Scanner) Review Comparisons

This is part of a series of posts talking about some of the common LIDAR's used in robotics. At the end of these sensor profile articles there will be a final post that compares the sensors based on data collected by each of the sensors. Posts: Evaluating LIDAR Guide LIDAR Fundamentals SICK TiM551 - LIDAR Overview SICK LMS111 - LIDAR…
SICK LMS500
Posted inSystems & Sensors

SICK LMS511 Laser Scanner – LIDAR Overview

This is part of a series of posts talking about some of the common LIDAR's used in robotics. At the end of these sensor profile articles there will be a final post that compares the sensors based on data collected by each of the sensors. Posts: Evaluating LIDAR Guide LIDAR Fundamentals SICK TiM551 - LIDAR Overview SICK LMS111 - LIDAR…
Hokuyo UTM-30LX
Posted inSystems & Sensors

Hokuyo UTM-30LX Laser Scanner – LIDAR Overview

This is part of a series of posts talking about some of the common LIDAR's used in robotics. At the end of these sensor profile articles there will be a final post that compares the sensors based on data collected by each of the sensors. Posts: Evaluating LIDAR Guide LIDAR Fundamentals SICK TiM551 - LIDAR Overview SICK LMS111 - LIDAR…